Patriots knock off No. 2 Holly in 65-59 win

Idle McClave Cardinals move up from No. 3 to No. 2

Parity is a word associated with the NFL. It might be a word associated with southeastern Colorado boys basketball soon.

There are about five really good teams in this area, capable of knocking out any of the others on a given night.

This week's big winner was the South Baca Patriots, who beat the second-ranked Holly Wildcats, 65-59, on Friday night. The Pats then turned around and manhandled a much-improved Wiley, 59-38, on Saturday.

The third-ranked McClave Cardinals were idle this week.

Sixth-ranked Cheyenne Wells was beaten by another much-improved team, Cheraw, 53-48, in Cheyenne Wells on Friday.

The following night, the Wolverines were riddled by a strong second half against Holly on Saturday as the Wildcats got back on the winning track 72-59.

With districts about a month away, it means that the jockeying for seeds becomes even more important.

Holly had a busy week, traveling to Manzanola on Tuesday, where they hammered the hapless Bobcats, 90-34.

Friday saw the Wildcats travel to Pritchett where they fell to South Baca.

Tied at 42-42 in the third quarter, South Baca used poor shot selection by Holly to make a 7-0 run that the Wildcats never recovered from in falling to the Patriots.

"We called a timeout and talked about getting the ball inside because of our height advantage. We came down and shot a 15-footer and then a 10 footer and neither went down. South Baca converted that into seven points with a steal thrown in there, and it was an advantage that we could never overcome," said Holly coach Shannon Rushton.

The Wildcats responded in a big way on Saturday against Cheraw, a team that has been ranked for most of the season.

Trailing at halftime, the Wildcats used a big second half to put away the feisty Wolverines. The Wildcats had four players in double figures with junior Tristan Nelson leading the way with 18 points. Senior Drew Thompson added a dozen, while freshman Yaniel Vidal had 11. Junior Oscar Calderon added another 10 points in a balanced scoring effort.

South Baca is now the frontrunner in District 3 with its wins over Holly and Wiley.

The Pats only have a tough game with Walsh left in order to run the table in District 3.

Bret Wilson had 22 points in the win over Holly, while running mates Matthew Crane and Clayton Morlan added 14 and 10 respectively.

The Pats climbed all over Wiley on Saturday, leading 36-9 at halftime before the Panthers came back and made things respectable in the second half.

The Panthers (4-6) got a big win on Thursday in Walsh, beating the Eagles 56-47. They used a 15-4 advantage in the fourth quarter and seven three-pointers on the night to pull out the win. Senior Kenny Dellamaestra led the way with 17 points for the Panthers.

The Granada Bobcats got a big District 2 win over Kit Carson on Friday.

In a game that went down to the final shot, Granada prevailed 40-38. The Bobcats hit nine 3's in the game and were led by senior Xavier Martinez with 14 points. Kit Carson's 6-8 senior Creed Medford had a big night for the Wildcats knocking down 18 points and pulling down 11 boards.

The Eads Eagles got their first win of the season on Friday, beating Deer Trail 46-16. Eads fell to fourth-ranked Hi-Plains, 61-46, on Saturday in Eads despite 20 points from freshman Caden Parker. Sophomore Tyler Rouse added 17 to the Eagles' cause.

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